KUALA LUMPUR: The government is studying and drawing up policies, as well as legal strategies to curb rent-seeking, also known as the 'Ali Baba' culture, that has a negative impact on the country's economy.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said a proposal would be presented to the Cabinet to address the problem that has caused a one per cent loss in the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) involving procurement, licensing, permit issuance and quota; as well as subsidy and grant distributions.
On a different matter, the prime minister said the Economic Action Plan Council (MTEN) meeting earlier agreed to expedite the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) initiatives as a catalyst for strategies to position the country as a regional pioneer in renewable energy.
This includes pioneer flagship projects and NETR initiatives to enhance the industry participation on the government's new direction in exploring the renewable energy resources and shape the market demand, as well as identifying financial resources to address the financing gap for the said projects.
"The first phase of NETR will highlight 10 strategic and high value national pioneer projects as measures to implement the National Energy Policy 2022-2040 with potential investments of RM25 billion," he said in a statement.
The initiatives had created over 23,000 high quality jobs and reduced a cumulative 10,000 gigagram of carbon dioxide emission.
He said the first phase of NETR would be launched on July 27, followed by phase 2 in August this year.
"Moving forward, MTEN will continuously formulate steps and new initiatives to address challenges involving the country's economy, to ensure enhancement in government, as well as systematic structural changes in improving the nation's economic potentials.
"The government strives to achieve Low Carbon Aspiration 2040 and moving forward in line with the current technology development and to fulfil the socioeconomic needs of the people, added the statement.